Power-saving control apparatus and method for computer system in standby mode

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119(a) from Korean Patent Application No. 2006-0102437, filed on Oct. 20, 2006 in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated in its entirety herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present general inventive concept relates to a computer system and a control method thereof, and more particularly to a computer system and a control method thereof which returns to a normal mode by a wake-up unit in a standby mode.

2. Description of the Related Art

Generally, a computer system restricts power supply to a predetermined device in a predetermined condition to minimize power consumption. Details regarding such power management are described in an Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) specification that is an open industry specification co-developed by several companies. Hereinafter, “standby mode” refers to a mode where a power supply is cut off to a predetermined device to minimize power consumption. According to the ACPI specification, the standby mode may be an S<b>1</b> state to S<b>3</b> state.

An operating system (OS) of a computer system such as Microsoft Windows enables a user to set a power management environment for each device through a so-called ‘device manager’. Accordingly, the device monitors whether a wake-up event occurs in the standby mode and transmits a monitoring result to its system. Hereinafter, the device is also called a “wake-up device”. The wake-up device may include a keyboard, a mouse, a network card, an audio card, a modem, and other conventional devices.

<figref idrefs="DRAWINGS">FIG. 1</figref> is a flow diagram to illustrate a standby mode setting and operation in a conventional computer system.

Referring to <figref idrefs="DRAWINGS">FIG. 1</figref>, a user may set through a ‘device manager’ whether to operate each wake-up device in the standby mode at operation S<b>11</b>. For example, if the wake-up device is the mouse, in the Microsoft Windows, a user may select ‘pull the computer out of standby mode with this device’ in ‘device manager’-&gt;‘mouse register information’-&gt;‘power management’ to set the mouse to perform an operation in the standby mode (hereinafter, “wake-up device user setting” or “user setting”).

Then, the OS of the computer system confirms if it enters the standby mode during normal operation (hereinafter, also called “normal mode”) at operation S<b>12</b>. If a condition for entering into the standby mode is satisfied at operation S<b>12</b>, the OS of the computer system confirms the wake-up device user setting before entering into the standby mode at operation S<b>13</b>, and performs environment setting of the wake-up device (hereinafter, also called “system setting”) by which a predetermined wake-up device is set to be operable in the standby mode at S<b>14</b>. If the environment setting of the wake-up device is completed, the OS of the computer system controls the system to enter into the standby mode at operation S<b>15</b>. In the standby mode, the wake-up device which has been set to be operable monitors if a corresponding wake-up event occurs at operation S<b>16</b>, and informs the system of the occurrence of the wake-up event when the wake-up event occurs. Accordingly, the OS of the computer system restores the system to a state that existed before the standby mode was entered into and to be operable in the normal mode at operation S<b>17</b>.

However, according to the conventional computer system, the power supply supplying power to the wake-up device is performed in the standby mode irrespective of an actual operation of the wake-up device. Therefore, although a certain wake-up device is set not to be operable in the standby mode by the user, a standby power is always supplied to the wake-up device in the standby mode, thereby causing wasteful power consumption.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present general inventive concept provides a computer system and a control method thereof which can minimize wasteful power consumption in a standby mode, that is, which can automatically control a power supply to a wake-up device capable of restoring the computer system from the standby mode according to the user's intention so that wasteful power consumption can be decreased or eliminated.

Additional aspects and utilities of the present general inventive concept will be set forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the present general inventive concept.

The foregoing and/or other aspects and utilities of the present general inventive concept can be achieved by providing a computer system to decrease power consumption, the computer system comprising at least one wake-up unit to sense if a wake-up event occurs in a standby mode, a power supplying unit to supply power to the at least one wake-up unit, and a controlling unit to control the power supplying unit corresponding to the at least one wake-up unit in the standby mode according to a predetermined setting corresponding to whether the a least one wake-up unit is in an operable state.

The computer system may also comprise a user inputting unit, wherein whether the at least one wake-up unit is in the operable state is determined by a user's input through the user inputting unit.

The controlling unit may comprise an operating system (OS) which performs an operation setting of the at least one wake-up unit of the standby mode according to an advanced configuration and power interface (ACPI) specification, and a basic input/output system (BIOS) which controls the power supply to the at least one wake-up unit according to the operation setting of the at least one wake-up unit which is performed by the OS.

The computer system may also comprise a CPU where the OS and the BIOS are executed, and an interrupt generating unit which generates an interrupt to the CPU after the operation setting of the at least one wake-up unit performed by the OS, wherein the BIOS controls the power supply to the at least one wake-up unit if the interrupt is generated by the interrupt generating unit.

The computer system may also comprise a switching unit to selectively switch the power from the power supplying unit to the at least one wake-up unit, wherein the controlling unit controls the power supplying unit to supply power to the at least one wake-up unit by controlling the switching unit.

The foregoing and/or other aspects of the present general inventive concept can be achieved by providing a control method of computer system comprising at least one wake-up unit to sense whether a wake-up event occurs in a standby mode to decrease power consumption, and a power supplying unit to supply power to the at least one wake-up unit, the method comprising: performing a setting corresponding to whether to operate the at least one wake-up unit in the standby mode, and controlling the power supplying unit to supply power to the at least one wake-up unit in the standby mode according to the setting corresponding to whether to operate the at least one wake-up unit in the standby mode.

The performing of the setting may be performed by a user's input.

The control method of a computer system may also comprise performing an operation setting of the at least one wake-up unit according to an advanced configuration and power interface (ACPI) specification and generating an interrupt after the performed operation setting of the at least one wake-up unit, wherein the controlling the power supplying unit is performed when the interrupt is generated.

The foregoing and/or other aspects and utilities of the present general inventive concept may also be achieve by providing a computer apparatus usable with a power supplying unit, the apparatus including at least one wake-up unit to detect whether a wake-up event occurs in a standby mode, and a controlling unit to control the power supplying unit to supply power to the at least one wake-up unit in the standby mode based on a predetermined setting corresponding to operability of the at least one wake-up unit in the standby mode.

The foregoing and/or other aspects and utilities of the present general inventive concept may also be achieve by providing a method of reducing power consumption in a computer system, the method including performing a setting of at least one wake-up unit corresponding to operability of the at least one wake-up unit to detect a wake-up event in the standby mode, and controlling a power supplying unit to supply power to the at least one wake-up unit in the standby mode based on to the performed setting to the at least one wake-up unit.

The foregoing and/or other aspects and utilities of the present general inventive concept may also be achieve by providing a method to control power to a plurality of wake-up units of a computer apparatus, the method including determining whether a basic input/output system (BIOS) trap is set, generating a system management interrupt if the BIOS trap is set, determining which of the plurality of wake-up units are predetermined to be operable in a standby mode, and providing power to one or more wake-up units determined to be operable in the standby mode and preventing power to be supplied to one or more wake-up units determined not to be operable in the standby mode when the standby mode is initiated.

The foregoing and/or other aspects and utilities of the present general inventive concept may also be achieve by providing a control method of a computer system, the method including performing a user-setting operation corresponding to a user setting of one or more wake-up units, and determining whether a standby mode condition exists, and if so, confirming a user setting of the one or more wake-up units, performing a system-setting operation corresponding to the user setting of the one or more wake-up units, setting a BIOS trap and a power supplying unit corresponding to the user settings of the one or more wake-up units, and entering a standby mode.

The foregoing and/or other aspects and utilities of the present general inventive concept may also be achieve by providing a computer readable medium containing computer readable codes to perform a method of reducing power consumption in a computer system, the method including performing a setting of at least one wake-up unit corresponding to operability of the at least one wake-up unit to detect a wake-up event in the standby mode; and controlling a power supplying unit to supply power to the at least one wake-up unit in the standby mode based on the performed setting to the at least one wake-up unit.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and/or other aspects and utilities of the present general inventive concept will become apparent and more readily appreciated from the following description of the exemplary embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

<figref idrefs="DRAWINGS">FIG. 1</figref> is a flow diagram to illustrate standby mode setting and operation in a conventional computer system;

<figref idrefs="DRAWINGS">FIG. 2</figref> is a block diagram illustrating a computer system according to an exemplary embodiment of the present general inventive concept;

<figref idrefs="DRAWINGS">FIG. 3</figref> is a flow diagram illustrating an operation of the computer system according to the exemplary embodiment of the present general inventive concept; and

<figref idrefs="DRAWINGS">FIG. 4</figref> is a flow diagram illustrating a process of operation S<b>105</b> of <figref idrefs="DRAWINGS">FIG. 3</figref>.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Reference will now be made in detail to the embodiments of the present general inventive concept, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to like elements throughout. The embodiments are described below so as to explain the present general inventive concept by referring to the figures.

<figref idrefs="DRAWINGS">FIG. 2</figref> is a block diagram illustrating a computer system <b>100</b> according to an exemplary embodiment of the present general inventive concept. As illustrated in <figref idrefs="DRAWINGS">FIG. 2</figref>, the computer system <b>100</b> includes a plurality of wake-up units <b>150</b> (a first wake-up device and a second wake-up unit) to sense if a wake-up event occurs in a standby mode, a power supplying unit <b>160</b> to supply power to the wake-up units <b>150</b>, and a controlling unit <b>110</b> to control power supply to the wake-up units <b>150</b> in the standby mode according to a predetermined setting as to whether the wake-up units <b>150</b> are operable in the standby mode. In <figref idrefs="DRAWINGS">FIG. 2</figref>, a dotted line indicates a stream of the power supply. For purposes of clarity, in the description below, only a power supply to the wake-up devices <b>150</b> is described, and a description of the power supply to other elements is omitted.

The wake-up units <b>150</b> monitor if the wake-up event occurs in the standby mode, and transmit a monitoring result to the controlling unit <b>110</b>. The wake-up units <b>150</b> include a keyboard, a mouse, a network card, an audio card, a modem and other conventional devices.

As illustrated in <figref idrefs="DRAWINGS">FIG. 2</figref>, the controlling unit <b>110</b> includes an operating system (OS) <b>112</b> in charge of system management, a basic input/output system (BIOS) <b>113</b> providing a basic input/output interface of the system, and a central processing unit (CPU, not illustrated) operating the OS <b>112</b> and the BIOS <b>113</b>.

The OS <b>112</b> performs a user setting operation corresponding to a user's setting of the wake-up units <b>150</b> in the standby mode. In an embodiment of the present general inventive concept, for the user's setting of the wake-up units <b>150</b>, the computer system <b>100</b> may also include a user inputting unit <b>130</b> to receive and transmit the user's input, and a displaying unit <b>140</b> to display a user interface (UI) corresponding to the user's setting. The computer system <b>100</b> may also include a setting saving unit <b>120</b> to save setting information (hereinafter, also called “user setting information”) of the wake-up units <b>150</b>, which is, for example, set by the user. The user inputting unit <b>130</b> may be embodied by a keyboard and a mouse, and the setting saving unit <b>120</b> may be embodied by a hard disk drive.

Also, the OS <b>112</b> confirms whether the OS <b>112</b> should enter the standby mode. If the OS <b>112</b> enters the standby mode, the OS <b>112</b> refers to the user setting information to set whether to operate the wake-up units <b>150</b>. The computer system <b>100</b> may also include a controller (not illustrated) of the wake-up units <b>150</b> such as a peripheral component interconnect (PCI) controller. A setting information (hereinafter, also called “system setting information”) of the wake-up units <b>150</b>, which is set by the OS <b>112</b>, may be saved in a register (not illustrated) provided to the controller (not illustrated) of the wake-up units <b>150</b>.

The BIOS <b>113</b> refers to the setting of the wake-up units <b>150</b> and sets whether to supply the power to the wake-up units <b>150</b> according to an actual operation of the wake-up units <b>150</b> before the system enters into the standby mode.

The computer system <b>100</b> may also include a plurality of switching units <b>180</b> (refer to a first switching unit and a second switching unit) which are provided to correspond to the plurality of wake-up units <b>150</b> and to switch to selectively supply the power from the power supplying unit <b>160</b> to a corresponding wake-up unit <b>150</b>. The BIOS <b>113</b> controls operations of the plurality of switching units <b>180</b> to supply the power only to the wake-up unit <b>150</b> that is set to be actually operable in the standby mode.

As illustrated in <figref idrefs="DRAWINGS">FIG. 2</figref>, the computer system <b>100</b> further comprises a south bridge <b>190</b> to interface to the controlling unit <b>110</b>, the wake-up units <b>150</b> and other units. The south bridge <b>190</b> generates an interrupt according to a BIOS trap setting before the system enters into the standby mode, thereby enabling the BIOS <b>113</b> to control the power supply of the wake-up units <b>150</b>. The south bridge <b>190</b>, for example, is an interrupt generating unit, in an embodiment of the present general inventive concept.

<figref idrefs="DRAWINGS">FIG. 3</figref> is a flow diagram illustrating an operation of the computer system <b>100</b> according to an embodiment of the present general inventive concept. Referring to <figref idrefs="DRAWINGS">FIGS. 2 and 3</figref>, the OS <b>112</b> performs a user setting operation corresponding to a user setting of a wake-up unit <b>150</b> to operate in a standby mode at operation S<b>101</b>. The OS <b>112</b> confirms whether to satisfy a condition to enter into the standby mode while it normally performs an operation at operation S<b>102</b>. The condition to enter into the standby mode includes, for example, a user's command to enter into the standby mode, an elapse amount of time set by the user without any event occurring and/or other conventional conditions.

Referring to <figref idrefs="DRAWINGS">FIGS. 2 and 3</figref>, if the condition to enter into the standby mode is satisfied at operation S<b>102</b>, the OS <b>112</b> confirms the user's setting of the wake-up units <b>150</b>, which is saved in the setting saving unit <b>120</b>, at operation S<b>103</b>, and performs a system setting operation of the wake-up units <b>150</b> according to the user's setting at operation S<b>104</b>. In an embodiment of the present general inventive concept, the south bridge <b>190</b> may include a General Purpose Enable (GPE) register (not illustrated) and a General Purpose Status (GPS) register (not illustrated) which indicate if a wake-up monitoring is performed for each wake-up unit <b>150</b> according to an ACPI specification and indicate if the wake-up event occurs. The OS <b>112</b> performs the system setting, for example, by setting values of the GPE register and the GPS register.

In another embodiment of the present general inventive concept, the controlling unit <b>110</b> may be provided, for example, in a controller (not Illustrated) of the wake-up unit <b>150</b> such as a PCI controller. The controlling unit <b>110</b> may also include a device driver <b>111</b> to set values of a pair of registers (not illustrated) which may have functions similar to those of the GPE register and GPS register.

Referring to <figref idrefs="DRAWINGS">FIGS. 2 and 3</figref>, the south bridge <b>190</b> may include a sleep type register (not Illustrated) illustrating types of the standby mode according to an advanced configuration and a power interface (ACPI) specification and a sleep enable register (not illustrated) to indicate whether the standby mode is set. The OS <b>112</b> completes the operation of entering into the standby mode by recording the values corresponding to the standby mode in the sleep type register and the sleep enable register.

Whether to supply the power to the wake-up unit <b>150</b> is set by the BIOS trap at operation S<b>105</b> (<figref idrefs="DRAWINGS">FIG. 3</figref>). <figref idrefs="DRAWINGS">FIG. 4</figref> is a flow diagram illustrating a process of operation S<b>105</b> in this embodiment of the present general inventive concept. Referring to <figref idrefs="DRAWINGS">FIGS. 2 and 4</figref>, at operation S<b>104</b>, if the operation of the OS <b>112</b> entering into the standby mode is completed, the south bridge <b>190</b> confirms whether the BIOS trap is set at operation S<b>201</b>. The BIOS trap may be embodied by previously setting a corresponding register of the south bridge <b>190</b> by the BIOS <b>113</b> during a Power-On Self-Test (POST) when the system is booted.

At operation S<b>201</b>, if the BIOS trap is not set, operation S<b>208</b> is performed. However, if the BIOS trap is set, the south bridge <b>190</b> generates a System Management Interrupt (SMI) according to the corresponding setting at operation S<b>202</b>. The CPU (controlling unit <b>110</b>) executes a predetermined code of the BIOS <b>113</b> by the SMI generated at operation S<b>202</b>.

Accordingly, the BIOS <b>113</b> confirms the operation setting of each wake-up unit <b>150</b> in the standby mode at operation S<b>203</b>. The BIOS <b>113</b> confirms the GPE register and the GPS register of the south bridge <b>190</b> or confirms the pair of registers provided in the controller of the wake-up units <b>150</b>, so that it can tell if each wake-up unit <b>150</b> is operable in the standby-mode.

With a result of confirmation at operation S<b>203</b>, if the corresponding wake-up unit <b>150</b> is set to be operable in the standby mode (Yes at operation S<b>104</b>), the BIOS <b>113</b> controls a corresponding switching unit <b>180</b> to supply a wake-up power to the corresponding wake-up unit <b>150</b> at operation S<b>204</b>. However, if the corresponding wake-up unit <b>150</b> is set not to be operable in the standby mode (No at operation S<b>104</b>), the BIOS <b>113</b> controls a corresponding switching unit <b>180</b> to cut off the wake-up power to the corresponding wake-up unit <b>150</b> at operation S<b>205</b>. In an embodiment of the present general inventive concept, the south bridge <b>190</b> may include a General Purpose Output (GPO) provided to correspond to each switching unit <b>180</b> to control the operation of the switching unit <b>180</b>. The BIOS <b>113</b> can control the operation of the switching unit <b>180</b> by properly setting the value of the GPO corresponding to the wake-up unit <b>150</b>.

Accordingly, whether the setting of the power supply is completed for all wake-up units <b>150</b> is confirmed at operation S<b>207</b>. If the setting of the power supply is not completed for all wake-up units <b>150</b>, the process goes back to operation S<b>204</b> and the setting of the power supply is performed for a next wake-up unit <b>150</b>. If the setting of the power supply is completed for all wake-up units <b>150</b> at operation S<b>207</b>, the south bridge <b>190</b> performs the power control of the standby mode according to the values of the sleep type register and the sleep enable register, which is set by the OS <b>112</b>, at operation S<b>208</b>.

By the power control of the south bridge <b>190</b> at operation S<b>208</b>, the system enters into the standby mode at operation S<b>106</b>, referring to <figref idrefs="DRAWINGS">FIG. 3</figref>, and each wake-up unit <b>150</b>, while in the standby mode, monitors whether a given wake-up event occurs at operation S<b>107</b>. When the wake-up event occurs at operation S<b>107</b>, the wake-up unit <b>150</b> informs the south bridge <b>190</b> of the occurrence of the wake-up event. Accordingly, the south bridge <b>190</b> performs the power control corresponding to the normal mode, so that the OS <b>113</b> returns to a state that existed before the standby mode was entered into, and performs its normal operation at operation S<b>108</b>.

The present general inventive concept can also be embodied as computer-readable codes on a computer-readable medium. The computer-readable medium is any data storage device that can store data that can be thereafter read by a computer system. Examples of the computer-readable recording media include read-only memory (ROM), random-access memory (RAM), CD-ROMs, magnetic tapes, floppy disks, optical data storage devices, and carrier waves (such as data transmission through the Internet). The computer-readable medium can also be distributed over network-coupled computer systems so that the computer-readable code is stored and executed in a distributed fashion. Also, functional programs, codes, and code segments to accomplish the present general inventive concept can be easily construed by programmers skilled in the art to which the present general inventive concept pertains.

As described above, according to several embodiments of the present general inventive concept, a computer system and control method thereof that can minimize wasteful power consumption in a standby mode can be provided.

That is, the power can be saved in the standby mode by cutting off a power supply to a wake-up unit that is set not to monitor an occurrence of a wake-up event.

Although a few exemplary embodiments of the present general inventive concept have been illustrated and described, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes may be made in these embodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of the general inventive concept, the scope of which is defined in the appended claims and their equivalents.